What?

Co-chaired by the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and Interpeace, the 2nd annual CSO-UN Dialogue on Peacebuilding will convene diverse civil society actors at UNHQ in New York on 12-13 December 2024. 

The Dialogue will focus on thematic priorities leading up to the 2025 Review of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture, with conflict prevention as the overarching theme and three sub-themes – financing for peacebuilding, meaningful civil society inclusion, and Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) –viewed through the lens of prevention. These thematic priorities were identified by the ImPACT Coalition on Peacebuilding at the 2024 UN Civil Society Conference in support of the Summit for the Future. The event will build upon the 1st CSO-UN Dialogue on Peacebuilding that took place on 30 November – 1 December 2023. The inaugural Dialogue convened 72 civil society participants representing over 45 countries, the majority from the Global South, who were joined by representatives of over 20 UN entities and Member States to discuss challenges and opportunities for meaningful civil society-UN collaboration and partnerships on peacebuilding.

Why?

In the context of increasingly complex drivers of violent conflict, it is urgently needed to prioritize more meaningful inclusion of civil society, attention to local contexts, and trust-building at global, national, and local levels. DPPA, alongside a Core Group of civil society and UN System partners, launched the CSO-UN Dialogue on Peacebuilding in 2023 to create a platform for diverse civil society actors, especially from the Global South, to influence global peacebuilding policies and objectives and enable the UN to engage more systematically with civil society in its work building and sustaining peace. 

The 2024 Dialogue provides a critical opportunity for meaningful civil society-UN-Member State exchange of key priorities leading up to the 2025 Review of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture. It also serves to ignite multistakeholder collaborations for the implementation of the newly adopted Pact for the Future, in particular the Action Points on International Peace and Security as well as the New Agenda for Peace. 

DPPA is uniquely positioned to co-host the CSO-UN Dialogue as it can both help shape peacebuilding initiatives on the ground and provide an interface with the wider UN system. This includes linkages to Members of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and the wider UN System through the Peacebuilding Contact Group. Moreover, through its management of the Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), DPPA connects programming on the ground to global-level policy processes.

How?

• Co-creation of an annual dialogue with a Core Group of 10 global and regional civil society networks and organizations, aimed at contributing to the UN’s peacebuilding agenda.
• Meaningful engagements between annual dialogues to inform both strategic thinking and policy development through the inclusion of local peacebuilding perspectives and on-the ground experience.
• Long-term vision to build an institutionalized platform for South-South and Triangular Cooperation to influence global policy and practice on peacebuilding.
• Meaningful multistakeholder partnerships and collaboration involving Member States, the UN System, and CSOs.

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